Frozen eggs 'provide fertility hope for cancer patients'

Scientists have successfully removed, matured and frozen eggs from young cancer patients, which they say could provide fertility hope for the future.

The Israeli researchers hope that the eggs, extracted from girls between the ages of five and ten, mean that cancer sufferers left infertile by chemotherapy will be able to become mothers later in life.

It is the first time that human eggs from pre-pubescent girls have been artificially matured.

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Dr Arial Revel, who led the team, said: "No eggs have yet been thawed, so we do not know whether pregnancies will result. But we are encouraged by our results so far."

Previous efforts to preserve fertility for young cancer patients has involved freezing girls' ovarian tissue; however, there is a chance this tissue could contain cancerous cells.

A total of 1,538 children were diagnosed with cancer in 2002, according to Cancer Research UK.

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